Gas Prices Too Low?

Vin Suprynowicz reports on Democrats and energy prices:

The Interior Department signed binding leases with some of America’s largest oil companies back in 1998-99, "allowing" the firms to drill in deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, far outside any internationally recognized 6- or 12-mile territorial limit.

The government doesn’t spend any money facilitating that expensive deep drilling, mind you. It doesn’t "subsidize" those operations in any traditional use of the term. Rather, Washington charges the oil companies for the "privilege" of keeping our homes heated and our cars on the road – and then sharply restricts where, in international waters, the drilling can occur.

If the oil companies tried to get away with paying less than called for in the leases, what do you think would happen?

Instead, the oil companies are perfectly happy to pay the amounts agreed upon. But Democrats in Congress say the leases are "flawed" – the Interior Department wrote them incorrectly and now the oil companies aren’t required to pay enough.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi even refers to the difference between what the written leases call for the oil companies to pay, and the amount she’d like them to pay, a "government subsidy."

Imagine that. If you’ve been paying three dollars a dozen for eggs, but the supermarket manager now wishes he’d charged you 10 dollars a dozen, then the supermarket has been "subsidizing" you by seven dollars a week ... and has a right to try and get it back!

Some politicians don't like capitalism.